A garage door cannot work properly or safely in automatic mode with a broken spring, although it can be moved manually with great difficulty in an emergency. The entire garage door system is designed around the springs, which counterbalance the heavy door weight so that the opener only needs to provide a small amount of force to move it. When a torsion spring above the door or an extension spring on the sides breaks, the door becomes dead weight of 150 to 300 pounds. If you try to use the automatic opener, the motor will hum, strain, and may only lift the door a few inches before the safety force sensor stops it, and continued attempts can burn out the motor, strip the drive gear, or cause cables to come off the drums. For safety reasons, you should pull the emergency release cord to disconnect the opener and avoid damage. Manually, the door can be lifted with two people, but it is extremely heavy, will not stay open on its own, and can slam down. Operating the door with a broken spring can also cause the door to go off track, bend panels, or break cables due to uneven lifting. Therefore, while movement is physically possible manually, the door should be considered not working until the spring is professionally replaced, which costs 200 to 400 dollars for one and 300 to 600 dollars for a pair.
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